struggling with a 1200 calorie allowance

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  • battybecks
    battybecks Posts: 147 Member
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    1200 seems okay but at night when I want a snack, it pushes me over the limit. Anyone have a suggestion for a healthy snack? I have tried celery and peanut butter which is okay, but I want other good choices. Fruit puts my sugar intake too high and peanut butter adds too much fat. Any suggestions?

    Salted popcorn! Homemade, or look at the calories on bought varieties. My local shop does one that is 200kcals for a huge share bag :)

    nomnomnom
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    Hi try to use this..will give your daily calorie requirements.. =)

    scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    So proud of you sis! :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
    Yes use this for an accurate calorie count. :flowerforyou:
  • Shoechick5
    Shoechick5 Posts: 221 Member
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    i find it hard sticking to 1200 calories if i make my own foods.. ive started eating weightwatchers meals with a bag of steam veg! it usually fills me up & its easier to keep track x

    Weight Watchers meals are full of sodium. Becareful.
  • Shoechick5
    Shoechick5 Posts: 221 Member
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    hey guys, ive been doing the 1200 cals a day for about a year now - but i allow myself atleast one blow out cheat meal a week! think it stops me from going insane. i also dont eat back the calories i burn off,
    i find really good foods are eggs, tuna, skinny pasta, loading bologneses/stir frys/chillis with LOTS of vegetables and small amounts of meat! i also weigh pretty much everything as it is so easier to go over the weight of pasta etc.

    there are some days when im starving and some when im stuffed! very strange.

    keep at it :) produces amazing results. xxxxx

    Isn't this a bit misleading? aren't you consuming a lot of your calories that you burn in your one cheat meal?
  • bumblebreezy91
    bumblebreezy91 Posts: 520 Member
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    1200 calories is going very well for me. I am constantly eating low-cal, healthy foods to make sure I don't get to the point of feeling deprived. With my medical condition, I am not always able to exercise, so this really helps me still lose weight as if I were working out. Another friend with the same condition I have is planning on doing some light strengthening exercises together that may not aggravate my problems/pain, though. So we'll see if I can start adding exercise and slightly increasing calories if needed. my doctor does know I follow a 1200 calorie diet and actually recommends it for me.
  • meaganrh19
    meaganrh19 Posts: 20 Member
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    I've been eating a tone of fruits and veggies and I usually come in under
  • meaganrh19
    meaganrh19 Posts: 20 Member
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    I think it all comes to food choices. You need to find lower calorie food that will fill you up and stay with you. I eat a lot of homemade soups. I enter the ingredients on "My Recipes" and it calculates the number of calories per serving. I recently made a clam chowder that was 53 calories for one cup. I kept some in the fridge and froze some for workday lunches. With so few calories, I eat one and a half cups and some times add crackers. Just be creative. You can do it!:smile:

    Can you share the recipe?! I love clam chowder!
  • baltimorewriter
    baltimorewriter Posts: 5
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    1200 is unhealthful and way too low. Do some Googling for a Huffington Post article written by a former diet coach who 'fessed up to her clients. Do some Googling for your age and height and current weight for what you really should be taking in. 1.200 calories is a joke unless you've got an event next week.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    Anyone else following a 1200 routine? If so, how did you make it work for you? Right now i am following it pretty closely but if i go over by 100 or so i don't sweat it.

    Thanks!!

    Go here to get a better estimate of what you should be eating to lose weight: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    You may be able to eat more calories and still meet your goals.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    1200 is unhealthful and way too low. Do some Googling for a Huffington Post article written by a former diet coach who 'fessed up to her clients. Do some Googling for your age and height and current weight for what you really should be taking in. 1.200 calories is a joke unless you've got an event next week.

    Not true if the user fits the necessary requirements.
  • raw_meal
    raw_meal Posts: 96 Member
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    in
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    hey guys, ive been doing the 1200 cals a day for about a year now - but i allow myself atleast one blow out cheat meal a week! think it stops me from going insane. i also dont eat back the calories i burn off,
    i find really good foods are eggs, tuna, skinny pasta, loading bologneses/stir frys/chillis with LOTS of vegetables and small amounts of meat! i also weigh pretty much everything as it is so easier to go over the weight of pasta etc.

    there are some days when im starving and some when im stuffed! very strange.

    keep at it :) produces amazing results. xxxxx

    You are not eating 1200 calories a day if you allow yourself one 'blow out' meal a week.

    And yes, maintaining a reasonable deficit will net you amazing results.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    You don't have to stick with 1200 calories. There are a lot of folks that can't and don't and still lose weight.
  • whatitd013
    whatitd013 Posts: 6 Member
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    I started at 1200 too but increased to 1400 because I make sure to burn 500 calories a day through exercise. I don't leave the gym until my heart rate monitor says so. I ate a banana with peanut butter today after almost two weeks of only eating broccoli, kale, cucumbers, tuna, sunwarrior protein, flaxseeds and coconut oil. The banana was delicious. Like eating a desert. Worth it and I'm still within my 1400 calorie limit!
  • sway1080
    sway1080 Posts: 45 Member
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    It's hard for me to do 1200 a day. The way I make it work is about 1600 a day and I do a 400 cal workout = 1200 net.
    I've always ate back ALL or almost all exercise calories and i've lost about 25lbs since August :)
  • nebrasch
    nebrasch Posts: 6 Member
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    What I do is I plan my whole days meal the night before. I plan out about 1000 of my calories and then leave 200 for that cookie i just have to have or the granola bar I had because I was starving. I have been doing the 1200 calories for a while, what I found works best is cutting out breads and pasta. Really I only have breads and pasta 1-2 times a week. Other than that I buy the low calorie foods, I watch how much butter I put in things. Also switching to fat free milk saves A LOT of calories. Eat lots of veggies. I hate plain veggies so I make sure to allocate calories for peanut butter or hummus.
  • raw_meal
    raw_meal Posts: 96 Member
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    1200 calories ? Are you all crazy?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk This is great video for all of you who think that 1200 calories diet will help lose fat :) Thanks to this video and all knowledge that Layne Norton gave me, i'm losing fat despite eating 3000 kcal every day !

    Cool, let's see your diary and how do you do it?
  • Shoechick5
    Shoechick5 Posts: 221 Member
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    Its interesting that many of you say you don't worry to much about the natural sugars in fruit. I used to do weight watchers ( lost 50lb, but its maintaining where I fall down ) and on the weight watchers plan mostveg and fruit are considered free to eat I.e. not counted in your food intake and it used to work too. So the question question is... Is fruit andveg worth counting/should you count it? Any thoughts?

    Absolutely have to count it. Weight Watchers Points Plus where fruit and veg is free is set up to expect that you're consuming at least 200 calories a day in fruit and veg.. it bases it's points that it gives you on this.
  • stretch0823
    stretch0823 Posts: 35 Member
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    I do the 1lb program and hit the gym 4 times a week might be a better trade off:smile:
  • mamahannick
    mamahannick Posts: 322 Member
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    1200 is too little for most people. Definitely look into the TDEE method. I struggle with binging, but when I actually eat enough and don't starve myself the urges to binge magically reduce and become much more manageable.

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